Goodbye, Mike?: Perez booted from CM position
Say it ain’t so, Mission City Council.
You just boot, for all intents and purposes, in rank unceremonious fashion (Aug. 25), one of the best city managers in the RGV? Certainly, one who has more experience than almost all the rest?
“Hey, Wendorf, there’s a Mission mayoral/city council election next year. Come on, use your brain. Connect the dots.”
I get it. Thanks for the reminder.
Mike Perez was never the sort to tell a city council/commission what it wanted to hear, but rather, what it needed to hear, which isn’t always appreciated in local politics.
Can’t have that. Instead of moving approximately $1.5 million in revenue into the city’s general fund, which is what Perez was recommending for next year’s fiscal budget, better to give police and fire approximately $700,000 in pay raises.
“Now you’re catching on. Votes matter.”
Darn right they do. What’s more important for a mayor and those on the city council but to win the next re-election?
“Sound fiscal finance, budgets?”
Please.
For too many Valley cities, school districts, getting re-elected always takes precedence. Hello.
Take it from the Top
When Perez, a 1971 Donna High School grad, came on board with Mission in March 2024 as its newest city manager, after a 22-year tenure with McAllen, seven with the City of Weslaco, almost 46 years in public administration combined, including Harlingen, it was during a time when the city was in deep … money troubles.
Perez might have stayed in Weslaco had he not been diagnosed with colon cancer. He successfully battled that hardfought illness, but said he had to retire from work. Let his body recover from the surgery that had successfully removed the cancer, and, too, his extended absence from city hall wouldn’t be fair to the city if he stayed working as city manager from home.
Unlike Mission, when Mike Perez retired from Weslaco in the fall of 2021, the city’s government and citizens were smart enough to know how blessed they were, thanks to his leadership.
During a groundbreaking ceremony that October, for example, the citizens and elected officials in attendance rose to give him a standing ovation, thanking him for his service.
In early 2024, with his health restored, Perez agreed to serve as Mission’s city manager, with a two-year contract in hand, which was set to expire next March (2026).
Mission isn’t Weslaco, though, in the way they treated him.
Perez declined to comment about getting blindsided by the Mission mayor and city council late last month but did say he wasn’t going to accept a consulting-gig offer the city was offering him.
Good. Why leave them with any credibility going into next year’s election cycle?
This is an opinion column, not a news story, so I don’t have to present both sides. Don’t have to interview Mission Mayor Norie Gonzalez Garza as she tries to spin this her way, which included a written statement, which read in part:
“Together, we remain focused on ensuring stability, progress, and the continued success of our city and residents.”
Please, someone hand me a pill to combat nausea. You just dumped the very same guy who got the city back to being financially stable. It sure wasn’t you or your fellow travelers on the city council.
In fact, when Perez came to Mission in March of 2024, the city was financially unstable, owed the Mission EDC $2.7 million, didn’t know what to do with the old Cimarron Golf Course, and had even inquired about getting a $5 million line of credit just to make payroll (approximately six months before Perez came on board).
Norie Gonzalez Garza was elected mayor in the spring of 2022.
Now, though, that Perez has pulled the city’s bacon out of the fire, so to speak, thanks to his guidance, leadership capabilities, he’s getting booted from his job after restoring the City of Mission’s finances, with the help of capable staff under his tutelage, leaving behind approximately $2 million in the General Fund, with plans to grow it to $3 million by next year.
A far cry from what it was like when he came on board.
Perez also successfully steered the city through a vicious ransomware attack earlier this year, which basically froze most of the city’s IT capabilities.
How stressful was that for him to deal with, but he did it.
After Mike Perez came on board with Mission in March of 2024, he enacted a hiring freeze (not good for politics), cut some jobs (not good for politics), and produced a budget with no pay raises (definitely not good for local politics).
Yet, the very same actions needed to get the City of Mission out of the red (AKA, ain’t got no money to pay for city operations and payroll, thanks to fiscal mismanagement).
During his time with Weslaco, Mike Perez was credited with doing the same thing — getting a city out of the red, restoring its monetary sanity and stability.
Salinas Warns Them
After it became clear the last week of August that the Mission mayor and at least two councilmembers (the majority votes) were going to get rid of Perez before his contract was set to expire next March, the city, by law, had to hold a public meeting.
“Do we really have to let them speak in public?”
By law, yes.
Mission resident Ned Sheats rose to speak about his 20 years spent working with various city officials:
“During that period of time, I’ve found no one who could achieve Mr. Perez’s proficiency in his job, his personality and his openness.”
This coming from an astute guy who doesn’t suffer fools gladly.
“I certainly hope whatever decision has been made or will be made, will include his service to the city of Mission because I don’t think you could do much better.”
Good try, Mr. Sheats, but the mayor and her majority on the city council have other ideas, what with an upcoming city election and all.
Local Mission resident and attorney Rick Salinas, whose dad, “Beto” Salinas, RIP, served as the city’s iconic mayor for 20 years, also rose to speak Aug. 29th.
“I come in peace,” he said, “leaving politics aside.”
He then warned the mayor and city council that a lot of people aren’t buying their brand of… rhetoric.
“Nobody believes you guys,” he said.
Salinas said he’s gotten a lot of calls from people who don’t believe that Mike Perez is being (removed from his position as city manager) “because the future of the city has changed.”
Instead, he said, “people are telling me that you guys are the ones who need to go.”
He then mentioned (the city council) handing out a bunch of money to an engineer(s) to draw up proposed plans for a loop that is years in the future and would probably prove worthless in the end (the study, not the loop).
Salinas, a seasoned attorney with decades of practice under his belt, both civil and criminal, then mentioned a friend of his who called him for some advice about two years ago.
But this friend didn’t listen, said Salinas, and then one day, “he got a knock on the door.”
A thinly veiled reference to federal agents.
“That’s why Mike Perez needs to stay,” said Rick Salinas.
The city council’s mind, however, was already decided.
Goodbye, Mike.
Currently, Perez’s former duties fall to assistant city managers JP Terrazas and Andy Garcia.